The following recipe was inspired by 101 Cookbook’s Carrot Oatmeal Cookies recipe…until I realized that peeling baby carrots to make 1 cup of shredded carrot is about as fun as peeling my own fingers (since that’s what happens, and baby carrots were all I had on hand). So, I decided I’d take the base of the carrot oatmeal cookies recipe and turn it into a chai tea cookie (the inspiration for that was my overwhelming tea selection hehe!). These turned out amazingly delicious because the coconut oil with the shredded coconut and the subtle hint of chai and then the nut crunch…well…it’s pretty much heavenly. I made these with my soon-to-be-three-year-old niece who, I’m sure, filled the recipe with love.

Chai Tea Hazelnut Cookies (Vegan)

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup multigrain hot cereal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup hot chai tea
• 1/2 cup unrefined coconut oil, heated

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Mix together dry ingredients, then add in wet ingredients.
• Place on cookie sheet (I lined with foil, sprayed with nonstick cooking spray)
• Cook for 10 minutes, until edges are golden brown

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
26 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		158.0
Total Fat		12.8 g
	Saturated Fat	9.9 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.5 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.8 g
Cholesterol		0.0 mg
Sodium		64.1 mg
Potassium		53.2 mg
Total Carbohydrate		12.9 g
	Dietary Fiber	2.1 g
	Sugars	3.7 g
Protein		1.6 g

Vitamin A	0.0 %
Vitamin B-12	0.0 %
Vitamin B-6	1.0 %
Vitamin C	0.4 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	2.0 %
Calcium	2.2 %
Copper	4.0 %
Folate	1.5 %
Iron	3.5 %
Magnesium	3.8 %
Manganese	31.6 %
Niacin	0.5 %
Pantothenic Acid	1.0 %
Phosphorus	4.2 %
Riboflavin	0.7 %
Selenium	0.1 %
Thiamin	4.0 %
Zinc	3.6 %

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

<3,

The Cranky One and her partner in crime
We’re special. The cookie sugar-high didn’t help.

If at first you don’t succeed…
Round 1: Lopsided coconut turds

Add more flour. Words to live by!
Round 2: Perfection! [photo cred]
I had to borrow my “after” picture b/c these cookies disappeared more quickly than the clothes of sorority girls on spring break!

Vegan Coconut Macaroons
Original recipe from Veganbaking.net here, revised a bit below

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup non-dairy milk
• 2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups shredded coconut
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, non-dairy milk, brown rice syrup, vanilla extract and salt. Mix in the shredded coconut.
• Now add in the all-purpose flour and mix until well incorporated.
• Form mixture into 1 inch balls and place on a lightly oiled cookie sheet (I recommend using foil paper sprayed with cooking spray or parchment paper – these suckers do stick). Bake for 10-15 minutes.

My boyfriend loved ‘em and he’s a macaroon connoisseur

Try these for Thanksgiving!

<3,

The Cranky One

The Heart-Healthiest Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World (Vegan)
Recipe from Vegetarian Times (Nov/Dec 09 Issue)

I made these for my band-mates for today’s practice and they are delicious! Perfect for even the pickiest, discriminate eater.


Ingredients

• 2 cups walnuts
• 3 tbsp. canola oil
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 3 3.5-oz. bars bittersweet vegan chocolate, chopped, or 1 1/2 cups (12 oz.) vegan chocolate chips

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 2 baking sheets with cooking spray.
• Blend walnuts in food processor 30 seconds, or until ground into fine meal. Add oil, and blend 2 to 3 minutes more, or until mixture has consistency of natural peanut butter. Transfer to bowl.
• Whisk together brown sugar and 1/2 cup water in saucepan, and bring to boil. Pour brown sugar mixture over walnut butter, add vanilla extract, and stir until no lumps remain.
• Whisk together oat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in separate bowl. Stir oat flour mixture into walnut mixture. Cool dough 10 minutes.
• Fold oats, then chocolate chips into dough. Shape into 2-inch balls, and place on prepared baking sheets. Flatten cookies with bottom of a drinking glass dipped in water. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown. Cool 3 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
• Nutritional information per cookie: 173 calories, 10g total fat (3 sat.), 3g protein, 2g fiber

Coconut Macaroon Brownies
From Allrecipes here

My boyfriend loves macaroons and brownies, so when I found this recipe I was stoked! Remember that film I was “starring” in and practicing for (see post here)? Well, the boyf had it show-cased at school and I felt “directorial debut” brownies were in order! See:

They were so good that I totally “forgot” about the near 500-calories price tag for ONE. Yep, you read right. Maybe I’m a masochist who likes to bake calorie-defying morsels of heaven to surround herself with. Or maybe I really need to re-think this whole “baking shows love” mentality and bake people squash fries to celebrate special occasions. Does that sound nearly as fun? Nope, didn’t think so!

In other news, I’ve gone blond to see if I can disprove the whole “blonds have more fun” adage. If anyone can bring an extra ounce of cynicism to her life, it would be me — the cranky one.

Or maybe going blond is my way of showing, externally, that I’m ready for change. I feel like my healthy lifestyle and I need marriage counseling. I’m just not “feeling” it anymore. I want to “test the waters,” have a mid-life crisis, act out, feel that passion and excitement again. Ya hear that healthy lifestyle? It’s time to step it up! Anyone else feel their routines need some re-vamping, some counseling, a new Porsche and tiny dog with sparkle collar?

<3,

The Cranky One

Five (5) cookies (they are the size of a silver dollar, so pretty small) – 130 calories, 4 g fat, 3 g fiber, 4 g protein (50% vitamin A, 35% vitamin C, 6% Iron, 10% Calcium, 30% Thiamin, 10% Riboflavin).  Low sodium and vegetarian. They contain both fruit and vegetable concentrate and have not been heated more than 75 degrees so that the nutrients can be maintained.

This taste-tester says:  YUM!  Though they are not baked, they are super crunchy.  My twin thought they were really good too.  My boyfriend, not so much.  Even before I told him they had fruit concentrate in them he noted a “raisin taste” and noted that he preferred soft cookies.  2 out of 3 ain’t bad, right?

Main points to consider:  They are pretty darn small to have 5 of them for 130 calories… BUT they are surprisingly low in sugar for cookies (9 g) and 3 g of fiber is cool.  I say give them a try.  They were $3.49.

On to other news…I caved in, finally, and bought some Holey Donuts.  Since you have to order a minimum of $35.00, I chose the Low Fat Chocolate Crumb, Low Fat Vanilla Crumb, Low Fat Caramel Crumb variety ($11.95); The Vanilla Coconut, Low Fat Cinnamon Strudel, Toasted Coconut variety ($11.95); and the Boston Cream Lovers Assortment: 3 Fudge Crumb Boston Cream & 3 Vanilla Frosted Boston Cream variety ($11.95). Shipping was $18.48 and I made sure to use the free 6 glazed donuts code that expires today! Total spent: $54.32

I can’t wait for the day companies send me free samples to taste-test!